Coconut Oil is 'Pure Poison' says Harvard Professor

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A Harvard University Professor, Karin Michels while addressing a seminar on nutritional errors at the University of Freiburg in Germany claimed that Coconut oil is “pure poison”. One must know that Coconut oil contains artery-clogging saturated fat, which increases the risk of heart stroke and attack by raising the total cholesterol along with LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. It further lowers the heart-protecting HDL (good) cholesterol.

According to a 2010 research in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, medium chain triglyceride oils like the coconut and palm oils were good for weight loss. It also mentioned that consuming 18–24 g/day will not cause risk of heart problems. Diet cults like Ketogenic diet and Caveman diet which includes lean meats, vegetables, fruits, fish, nuts etc mainstreamed the findings by suggesting cold-pressed coconut oil for its anti-inflammatory weight-loss advantages.

But last year all these findings were by the American Heart Association (AHA), which warned people not to use coconut oil as it increased the LDL (bad) cholesterol levels like red meats and animal fats.

“A latest systematic review found seven controlled trials that compared coconut oil with monounsaturated or polyunsaturated oils. Coconut oil increased LDL (bad) cholesterol in all seven trials, drastically in six of them. The seven trials did not see a difference in raising LDL cholesterol between coconut oil and other oils high in saturated fat like beef fat, butter or palm oil. As coconut oil raises LDL cholesterol, a reason for cardiovascular disease and has no offsetting positive effects, we advise against the use of coconut oil,” said the advisory, published in the journal.